Streaking...

I've said before that I don't know where this streak has come from, and I'm desperate not to jinx it... But the runs are flowing and the PBs are falling.

Last weekend was the Spring 5K & 10k in Sefton Park - good runs, well organised, flat and enjoyable.  I did the 5k as Ironman, so went out with no expectations...

Hmmm...

No expectations...

That'll be 74s off a PB that has lasted since 2012, on a busy field, on a distance I hate - its far too short, I don't get into my stride, never feel warm, never feel comfortable.  Add in a mild panic attack as there was a thumping in my chest... that'll be the arc reactor I was wearing...


Yup, that thing was bouncing on my sternum... and I forgot about it... Until hammering around the course, it bounced and those demons of living with a dicky ticker came back for the merest of seconds to disappear in an amused instance... 

And then there was the 10k, I'd come so close to dropping below the hour that I knew it was possible.   I applied that brain cell of mine, and though fast runners may be amused by this I ran more tactically than I knew I could.  My basic plan, 3k steady, to warm up.  Then 3k harder, moving to 3k at max... which leaves 1k, which would be blood, guts and gory. 

As ever, the plan almost came off the rails before the start when someone stood on my heel, and passing the club secretary with a cheery Happy Birthday, the first K was slow with the crowds and the inevitable shoelace requiring retying... 

And I sort of stuck with the plan, with additions... The course is flat, but has inclines, and there were points where people slowed to go up them, and I accelerated to go past them, and more oddly to me they slowed on the downward incline - which is when my love of hills comes in and I just unleash the power of gravity... 

The additions, I should apologise - if you were wearing a charity top I recognised or a club top I was trying to run you down, target, after target, that mentality pulling me around the course.  And the approach worked, I hit the last KM with enough time that I could've slowed down and taken it easy... and my legs were telling me I should... So I didn't. A final push, and through the gun time in less than a hour, and a 57:18 PB for a 10k - 3:30 off the one set the other week, and 5:40 off the one from 2012... 

The conditions were perfect for me - mild and wet... 

And how do you celebrate two more PBs... You go and run 5 miles... because in running the 10k's you know you went quicker than your PB.  So on a warm Thursday evening, I got caught by traffic crossing the road, I dodged trucks (big ones) pulling out of entrances to the dock road, a lunatic cyclist and it being a tad warmer... And the PB fell, by almost 3 minutes.  

So, I'm entering the final stages of the training, the last scarily long training run - 20 miles - is tomorrow... Just as the heat wave hits, and the toxic smog comes over... So, the PB stretch may end tomorrow.  And if it does it does... It does. Running this well consistently is unusual for me, and looking back I've done it only twice before, both times ending in a marathon PB.  

It's far too early to start thinking about that, I have my acceptable, good and dream zone targets for the end of the month... and they haven't changed since February when I strapped my shoes back on. 

So, as you have your BBQs, or dodge the thunderstorms, tomorrow think of me, pounding the streets for 20 miles, one foot in front of the other... 

TTFN

Paul



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